


An Unexpected Conversation

by Quillaninc



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-08
Updated: 2010-11-08
Packaged: 2017-10-13 03:10:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/132188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quillaninc/pseuds/Quillaninc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When paths separate, suddenly coming across one another reveals as much as it hides.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unexpected Conversation

**Author's Note:**

> Set at some point in the latter parts of both Buffy and Angel.

Their meeting was certainly unexpected.

Giles rarely had time to leave Sunnydale these days; things were growing steadily from bad to worse – never a good thing, but in the vicinity of the Hellmouth, it was more than just disconcerting. That Buffy seldom sought him out for counsel did little to ease the anxiety – that she was clearly on the verge of burn out merely added to it.

The scrap of control he used to feel was gradually eroding away. Once, in the days when their little group were still Sunnydale High students, he'd been their rock, their compass. Buffy, Willow, Xander, Cordelia - all so innocent, then, despite their slayer lifestyle. So much had changed; yes, so much.

Giles wasn't the man he was back then, either. Truthfully, none of them were; their lives had been lived beyond normal human endurance for so long, it was no wonder the cracks were starting to show.

Willow, tainted yet not, made even greater through her witchcraft; all of them, living through the aftermath of Glory, that insane, beautiful demon bent on destruction just to return to her own realm; Buffy's death, and unnatural rebirth; Xander, and Anya – human and demon together; Spike, evil leashed, still inherent yet tightly controlled, a frightening thing…

Angel; Cordy; Faith…

Wesley.

So much had changed.

Fate, Giles had discovered, was seldom kind to him. He should not have been surprised that, on one of the few occasions where his research took him to other places, he should run into yet another reminder of how their collective pasts had failed them.

They'd collided on a busy street corner in Los Angeles, quite by accident, neither immediately recognising the other.

Giles, distracted as always and deep in thought, vaguely noticed that the other man had stopped, looking at him intensely. With ingrained courtesy, he murmured an apology, adjusting his glasses on his nose self consciously, as he often did on such occasions.

"So sorry…" The words fell away as he glanced up and realised who'd he run into. He blinked a few times rapidly in surprise, his mind taking a moment to catch up with his eyes.

Wesley's chin rose a few notches as he stared down the older watcher with a cool, defiant air. "Giles," he acknowledged with the briefest of polite nods.

Giles blinked again, then his smooth, cultured smile lifted one corner of his lips slightly, a distant, practised thing. "Wesley! Well, this _is_ a pleasant surprise!"

Taken at face value, those words were agreeable, amiable. Wes, however, was raised in the same strict society as Giles; he knew a snub when he heard it. His eyes grew even colder as he stared down his nose at the other and folded his arms deliberately. "Glad to hear it," he retorted, tone icy and, if possible, even more distant than Giles' smile.

Giles' eyebrows rose, just a touch; enough to indicate his surprise. _What's happened here?_ he wondered to himself. His eyes narrowed as he cast a speculative eye over Wesley's defensive stance. Where had the youthful idealist he'd once known gone?

Of course, they'd heard things about Angel and Connor and Wesley: dark twists and manipulations, distrust built on distrust. Things that could warp the shape of a man's character, and yet Giles had never suspected how deeply Wes could be affected. Somehow, he'd expected to find, perhaps, a more bitter, more disillusioned version of the young watcher originally sent to replace him as Buffy's mentor. This hardened, caustic man before him chilled his blood; not an easy thing, in his line of work.

Wesley smiled; it didn't come anywhere near reaching his eyes, making it all the more discomforting. Giles began to suspect it was deliberate. "You're looking well, Giles," the other commented.

Giles smiled back, the same polite smile as before. _You're not,_ he wanted to say. He was nothing if not diplomatic at such times, however. "So are you."

A huffed laugh, and this time Wesley's smile came closer to being natural. "Ever the tactful one, aren't you Giles?" he remarked dryly. His arms were still folded, a slightly victorious gleam in his eyes.

Giles gave his usual sheepish smile and adjusted his glasses again. "Well, someone must be."

"Indeed."

Wesley's smile still chilled him; not quite a smirk … well, not quite anything, really. It was as if the human soul had vanished, replaced by an appalling emptiness.

Giles suppressed a shudder and took a quick glance at his watch. He smiled an apologetic smile that was only slightly insincere. "I'm sorry, must dash," he explained. "I have to see a few people before my flight leaves this afternoon. We must catch up again, sometime. Have a proper talk?" His last comment came out cautiously inviting, that infernal need to satiate his curiosity getting in the road of a very well planned exit.

Wes inclined his head with a mildly supercilious smile. "Of course. Good to see you again, Giles." His eyes sparkled with something not quite safe, not quite dangerous; Giles had the distinct feeling he was being taken down a peg or two.

Then Wesley turned and walked away, as coolly as though the encounter had never occurred. Giles watched his retreating back until it disappeared into the crowd, a slight frown forming as he pondered their strange reunion.

A tightening of the lips and a brief shake of his head joined the frown as Giles turned in his original direction and began to walk. The encounter had left him feeling decidedly odd.

Then he realised what it was: yet another wisp of Giles' fragile control had been usurped, taken with Wesley as he left.

Giles sighed, deftly avoiding a fellow pedestrian. Indeed, his entire world was beginning to unravel. It was not an experience he particularly enjoyed.

**Author's Note:**

> Intended for trixie's 2004 request on LJ's Fic on Demand. I'm not sure if I ever posted it.
> 
> http://community.livejournal.com/fic_on_demand/17653.html


End file.
